


Quid Pro Quo

by zenonaa



Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: (the middle of one anyway), Blow Jobs, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-06 13:00:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6755014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenonaa/pseuds/zenonaa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'Though largely unacquainted with the concept of a friend, he knew enough about it to spurn it. Friends with benefits, however, couldn’t be the same as a single worded ‘friend’. The ‘with benefits’ part was a dead giveaway. It must have meant a relation outside of family where both people did something for the other, hence the benefits part.'</p><p>Togami is glad to finally have a suitable phrase to use to describe his relationship with Fukawa and so makes sure to correct everyone on any misconceptions they may have about them. On a seemingly unrelated note, he isn't sure why the others seem to know certain details about his private activities with Fukawa now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Quid Pro Quo

The pressure in Byakuya’s crotch mounted until it burst and surged through his body in an outbreak of tingling that lasted five or so seconds. It left him with no control over his hips that thrashed against his mattress and left him with no control over his mouth that, as undignifying as the verb was, babbled the single thought that occupied his mind. When the violent tingling subsided, his hands dropped down to his sides, his body stilled and he felt numb, barely aware of the person sat on top of him.

“I t-take it you enjoyed that,” Touko commented once he had uttered his last ‘Fukawa’ in a sigh, reminding him of her presence that he almost forgot about even though she had been the one who brought him into this state. She peered at him with an insufferable smirk, hands flat and pressed down in front of her against his bare lower stomach.

He tried to frown but he couldn’t feel it on his face so wasn’t totally sure how his expression came across. Still, he tried, so something must have shown on his face.

“You did well,” he said, chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.

Touko flaunted more teeth in her smile and bent forward, shaking her shoulders just enough that her breasts jiggled in a similar way to how they had done soon after she sat on him. As she drew closer, she slid one hand up to his equally naked upper chest and with her other hand, reached across and brushed her index finger against the creases in his brow. Some of his sweat clung to her fingertip, though her skin was already sticky with her own sweat. For some reason, his first thought was to suck on her finger, but he didn’t express this.

She straightened up and set her hands back onto his lower stomach, remaining seated on him and therefore keeping his length enclosed in her.

“Byakuya-sama,” she whispered and then she trailed off, but not in that way of hers where she said it so as to experience the shiver that saying it induced in her. This ‘Byakuya-sama’ seemed unfinished and hung in the heavy air around them.

“Hm?” asked Byakuya, staring at the ceiling.

“What... are we?”

He dragged his vacant gaze away from the ceiling and squinted at her. It would have helped if he had his glasses on, but they both discarded them as soon as their glasses snicked together during their warm up make out session.

She wiggled a bit. “I-I mean... we must be something, even if we’re not... dating...”

“No, we’re not dating,” he clarified immediately.

Touko visibly tensed but not the kind of tensing from before, when her muscles squeezed against him in spasms as she moaned and bounced, taking full advantage of the bedrooms’ soundproof walls. This time, it manifested as a flicker across her face, a fork of lightning in a sky of grey clouds, and an inhalation of breath in a pitiful impression of thunder.

“So are we... perhaps...” She was looking off to one side. “... friends... with... benefits?”

Byakuya intended to answer only to realise he couldn’t yet so he shut his mouth. Before now, he had never heard of this label. Though largely unacquainted with the concept of a friend, he knew enough about it to spurn it. Friends with benefits, however, couldn’t be the same as a single worded ‘friend’. The ‘with benefits’ part was a dead giveaway. It must have meant a relation outside of family where both people did something for the other, hence the benefits part.

Yes, that made sense. Touko fetched him books and prepared him coffee because they were friends... with benefits. In return, he let her hang around him and sit at the same table as him in the cafeteria and in the library, which most of the time satisfied her. He even volunteered to critique some of her non-romance work.

Quid pro quo.

“That’s right,” he told Touko. “We’re friends with benefits.”

For someone whose usual reaction to being called a ‘friend’ was to jolt away from the instigator and shield herself by firing words to the contrary, the smile that stretched across her face and almost punctured her rosy cheeks was not expected, even if anyone with common sense would be pleased to be referred to as a variant of ‘friend’ by someone like him.

Then again, Touko had a knack for surprising him. He almost liked that about her.

* * *

 

Celes set down another dark disc piece onto the othello board, capturing two of Byakuya’s light pieces that were arranged diagonally next to each other. Her lips curled into a smirk as he plucked those two light pieces off the board. She referred to the pieces as ‘dark’ and ‘light’ but really, they were black and white, and he suspected that there was a metaphor to be had in the former labels which someone like her might admire.

“It’s fortunate that you didn’t lay a wager prior to us starting this game,” she remarked as he considered his options.

Byakuya didn’t reply and deposited a piece onto a square that earned him two of her pieces, bringing their scores to a tie. On her next turn, she disposed of three of his pieces, and she watched gleefully as he gathered up those three pieces so she could put hers down in their places. Celes touched her knuckles to her lips, which did nothing to muffle her light giggle.

Her laughter prompted him to shoot a glare at Celes.

“This isn’t a gambling game,” he said, and he cast his eyes downward. “The supposed luck that you were born with that you keep prattling on about won’t help you here. What you said was right... It’s fortunate that we didn’t bet on the outcome, and that you weren’t foolish enough to think you could win against me. Not that you have anything that I would want, anyway, though the look on your face will suffice.”

He glanced up. Celes lowered her hand from her mouth and though her smirk persisted, her face gave a telltale twitch that would easily have been missed if he had blinked.

“I’m fully aware that this is a game that while anyone can play it, it requires skill to master. It’s an abstract strategy game, to be precise, so I cannot depend on my luck.” She tilted her body forward, making continuous eye contact. “But I am a woman who knows what she is doing. I don’t gamble if the outcome is inevitable because I would not be gambling. I would be stealing.”

Byakuya merely clicked his tongue. What she said was true. Celes was, admittedly, pretty clever, which was why he chose to play against her in the first place. Only a few others at the school were as worthy an opponent as she was.

Still, she wasn’t clever enough to beat him. After ten seconds, by the end of which he still hadn’t laid down a piece, Celes laced her fingers together and propped up her chin on them, elbows resting on her lap.

“Ho?” she went, eyebrows raised to a patronising height. “Could it be that you are wavering, Togami-kun? When Yamada-kun returns with our tea, I would like to see the surface of your drink ripple as you hold its handle.”

He reached across the board and placed one of his pieces onto a square that rewarded him with five of her pieces.

“Don’t dawdle, Celes. Remove those things from the board. They don’t belong here,” he said, and he made a shooing gesture with one hand.

Any traces of a smirk leftover on Celes’s face crumbled away and not even the creak of the door opening as Hifumi waddled in, tray of cups in his hands, could revitalise her expression.

“I did just as you asked,” said Hifumi as he set the tray down beside the othello board. The cups and saucers clattered a bit but nothing spilled. “Royal milk tea, not tea with milk. That would be a layman’s mistake and I believe you’ll find I’m worthy enough to be a full-fledged host, rather than an errand boy who breaks expensive vases.”

He tapped himself on the nose and winked.

Celes kept her head forward and played a piece that eliminated three of Byakuya’s discs, putting her back into a close lead.

“Just like that, I’m winning,” she said, ignoring Hifumi. “Othello is a constant battle between dark and light. A single move could lay waste to your opponent’s army and turn the game around for a player. Such is life.”

She laughed into her hand.

The lack of acknowledgement from Celes didn’t get past Hifumi, whose shoulders slumped and whose arms sagged by his sides. While Byakuya deliberated over his next move, Celes picked up her cup of tea and took a sip from it. She shut her eyes as she judged its quality. No one spoke, Byakuya distracted by the game and Hifumi waiting for Celes’s verdict, barely daring to breathe, wringing his hands together so tightly that his hands were draining of colour.

Seconds later, her cup clacked against its saucer, not shattering against the checkered floor of the recreation room that resembled a chess board. Hifumi still held his breath, only releasing it once Celes unhooked her finger from around the handle and retracted her hand from the cup entirely.

“I also prepared some for you, Togami Byakuya-dono,” added Hifumi.

Byakuya claimed just one piece from Celes, but the piece that he put down was in the corner of the board where it would be impossible for Celes to remove it from play. Wordlessly, he drank from his cup while Celes mulled over her next move. Hifumi’s past attempts at brewing satisfactory tea until he got it right had paid off, even if several decent cups had been broken in the process. Though Byakuya prefered rose hip tea to this, and luwak coffee to both, he accepted the beverage, as diluted as he thought it to be.

After he drank half of it, he united his cup with his saucer, placed both onto the table and said, “Yamada, if you keep this up, I may let you try out to be a friend with benefits.”

Celes flinched her head back and jerked her hand away from the board. Hifumi joined her in gaping.

“P-Pardon...?” asked Hifumi, lips struggling to cooperate.

“Right now, Fukawa is my only friend with benefits, but with workmanship like this, I might widen my circle,” said Byakuya. He narrowed his eyes at Hifumi and thrust out his finger dramatically, pointing it at him. “What do you say, Yamada?”

“You and Fukawa Touko-dono...” Hifumi clutched his cheeks and rocked back onto his heels, but he didn’t overbalance. “You two are...?”

Byakuya gave an impatient nod. “Yes, yes. We are what I said. Friends with benefits.”

Hifumi slipped a hand up to his glasses though he missed them twice, slapping himself in the face, before he fumbled with them with his pudgy and apparently greasy fingers. It must have been from all those potato chips he ate, and it was a wonder that he hadn’t dropped the tray of tea on his way over.

“W-What...?” squeaked Hifumi. He swallowed. “... What Foe Yay trope is this?”

To recover Hifumi’s attention, Byakuya wagged the finger he was pointing at Hifumi and said loudly, “Do you accept my offer or not? I assure you that you won’t regret such an alliance. Someone like me could satisfy you more than Celes ever could.”

After all, Byakuya was significantly richer than her.

Celes recoiled in disgust, face scrunched up into a grimace. “A-As if I would let such a swine...”

Hifumi must have just been her servant then.

“Four-Oh-Four, not found!” blurted Hifumi. He pivoted on his heel and darted out of the room, arms flailing, already wheezing.

Neither Celes nor Byakuya spoke for the next minute.

“... Keh. What a nuisance. It’s for the best that he didn’t accept,” said Byakuya, scowling. “I would have a headache after two minutes with him.”

She peeked at Byakuya’s deadpan face. Her lingering queasiness still showed on her facial features which hadn’t totally relaxed since Byakuya’s allusion to her being friends with benefits with someone like Hifumi.

“... Hm,” she simply went, and she made her next move.

* * *

 

In no mood to talk after Celes’s fluke of a victory, Byakuya marched over to the door of his dormitory and gave little regard to the conversation going on in the room adjacent, in the one that belonged to Junko Enoshima. Well, Junko was in her room, but the person who was talking to her was stood just outside of her room. Sakura.

“I realise that I am springing this request on you out of the blue, and I do not wish for you to feel obligated to do anything, but I would be honoured to receive a makeover from you,” said Sakura, who towered over Junko and unintentionally imposed herself on the other girl just by existing.

Byakuya delved his hand into his inner jacket pocket for the key to his door.

“I, uh, would be happy to, being a fashionista and all,” said Junko, “but... I’m... busy, yeah? Why don’t you ask Maizono? I bet she’d be happy to sort you out.”

She started to close the door but was interrupted by Sakura’s hand, which lunged forward and clasped Junko’s shoulder.

“Enoshima, I think I know what the root of your skittish behaviour is,” said Sakura.

At this point, Byakuya had his key out, but he was directing it toward his door slower than he normally would.

“... I will not harm you or any of my friends unless you pose a threat,” elaborated Sakura. “You need not be afraid for your safety around me.”

“Oh,” said Junko, and she gave a loud sigh. “Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry, I gotcha. But, like, I usually have a makeup artist do that for me, you know? Putting it on myself can be a major hassle that I totally don’t have the patience for.”

“Is that why you were wearing too much mascara at breakfast?” asked Byakuya.

Sakura turned toward him.

So she could see Byakuya as well, Junko poked her head through her doorway, and Sakura reversed so Junko could step out. Junko held out her arms like a cowboy ready to draw out their guns and pouted. “Hey, that wasn’t necessary to say, was it? What about you, huh? Since when were you an expert?”

“I don’t wear makeup,” Byakuya replied. He motioned toward his eyes. “These are natural. If I had done a poor job on my makeup, you would be free to point this out to me. But I didn’t, did I? So your ad hominem response falls rather short.”

“Enough. Enoshima is right, Togami.” Sakura folded her arms over her chest. “Your jab at her was unwarranted. Besides, her makeup is fine.”

Their novelty had worn off. Byakuya unlocked his door and pulled it toward him.

“I’m sorry, were we holding you up?” asked Junko before he could step inside. Her freckles almost disappeared into her flushed skin. “Have you got a big date to get ready for? Is it with Fukawa, the only person anywhere near as mean as you?”

The remark that she sniped at him was no more than an itch on the back of his neck that could be swatted away.

“I'm not dating Fukawa,” he said coolly. “We’re friends with benefits.”

He slunk into his room and shut the door behind him, only catching a glimpse of the mystified looks on the girls’ faces.

* * *

 

As a child, Byakuya sometimes accompanied his butler, Aloysius Pennyworth, on laundry duty. He wouldn’t do any himself, sitting nearby with a book in his small hands, not until Aloysius gave him a crash course on dry cleaning a bit before he was due to enroll at Hope’s Peak so Byakuya wouldn’t be at a disadvantage once he departed from his manor. His butler had imparted words of wisdom too, like how to use a steam cleaner and the idea of covering garments while they weren’t in use among other suit care tips.

“Won’t there be cleaners there who will do it for me?” Byakuya had asked.

Aloysius, packing one of Byakuya’s suitcases with clothes, had replied, “I do not want your acquaintances to make fun of you, and I do not think that the academy supplies such staff for students. You would have to find an independent professional cleaning service near the school grounds, and you may not wish to have to exit the school regularly to do that.”

Shortly after that conversation, Byakuya woke up, trapped in a prison labelled ‘school’.

At present, under his arm, was one of his suits, packaged in a garment cover, and slung across his shoulder was the strap of a laundry bag containing socks and underwear. Byakuya grasped the bar handles on the double doors to the laundry room and was on the verge of opening them when a voice on the other side caused him to pause.

“Togami?” said Mondo. “There ain’t no chance in hell. You’re crapping out of your mouth.”

“Oowada Mondo-dono, I am serious,” replied someone else, almost pleading. Hifumi. “It’s the logical conclusion to what I heard with my own two ears! Give me a truth serum and you’ll hear the same words come out of my mouth again... though I might be a few years younger, if the serum isn’t perfected...”

Intrigued, Byakuya waited, wanting to find out if and how their conversation developed.

“Hey, I’m no scientist,” grumbled Mondo. “But listen here... I ain’t gonna believe you until I hear it straight from that slimy mouth of his...”

Byakuya took that as a cue to shove the doors open and stride on through. The voices that he overheard did indeed belong to Mondo and Hifumi, who were standing, facing each other, and on entering, he discovered that also in attendance were Yasuhiro and Makoto, the two of them perched on the edge of the table. All eyes flitted to Byakuya, or more specifically, to the squeal from the opening doors behind him, but within seconds, everyone was undeniably looking at him.

“Hey, Togami-kun,” said Makoto weakly. None of the others chimed in their greetings, but Yasuhiro slapped on a grin and gave a short wave that could be accepted as a salutation.

“What were you talking about before I came in?” asked Byakuya, getting right to the point.

Yasuhiro squirmed. The magazine in his hands folded in on itself. “Uh... We were just...”

“Choose your words carefully,” warned Byakuya. He pushed up his glasses. “I was exposed to a significant part of your conversation and heard my name due to Oowada’s lack of filter and volume control. Rather than listen to the drivel of that bumbling fool,” Hifumi, “wouldn’t you prefer to address your queries to me? Hm?”

The other four exchanged glances and in the end, it was Mondo who stepped forward.

“We were wondering... if you...” Mondo’s face crumpled, as if in pain, and he turned his head to one side. “Shit, I can’t do it. I can’t fuckin’ do it... I feel like I’m talkin’ to a teacher or a priest or my grandma... Naegi, you’ve gotta do it.”

Makoto sat up straight and feebly gestured toward himself. “M-Me?”

Yasuhiro thumped his hand against Makoto’s back, almost launching Makoto off the table. The sound caused Hifumi to wince.

“I’ll never forget you,” said Yasuhiro seriously. “We’ll keep in contact via suance, ‘right?”

Hifumi pressed his knuckles against his mouth and added, “We won’t be able to wish him back while here... but if we escape this prison, Fujisaki-tan will be sure to construct a scouter so we can locate the seven balls...”

Byakuya’s left eye twitched. Yasuhiro patted Makoto’s shoulder. They all seemed to have forgotten about Byakuya, which was one of the greatest insults that someone could inflict upon him.

“Are you finished with your comedy routine?” Byakuya sneered, arms folded over his chest. “I’ll allow no more procrastinating. What were you saying about me?”

“You know what? Screw it, I’m a man,” said Mondo. He presented a fist, looked Byakuya right in the eye and said, “What’s the best way to please a woman in foreplay?”

“Fore...?” Nothing more came out of Byakuya’s mouth. His eyebrows raised without permission, and his foot shifted back just as rebelliously.

Everyone continued staring at him. Byakuya consciously smoothed out his features and adjusted his glasses, which had been knocked askew. There could be no way that they knew about his clandestine sessions with Touko. She had sworn not to utter a word about his ‘n-nude, sinewy body’ to anyone else, and he certainly hadn’t disclosed such information to another person.

Were they... perhaps... bluffing?

If not, it could be that they considered him an attractive man who logically must have dabbled in these sorts of affairs because of this. What clods. Little did they know, Byakuya only allowed the best for himself and on top of that focused solely on the Togami Conglomerate, so prior to Hope’s Peak, he had not touched a person intimately, especially for recreational purposes, and it was too early for him to need to even start selecting candidates to send his sperm off to for insemination so one could grow up to be his heir. Education and sculpting himself into the best Togami Head in history came first.

Still, his classmates were fueled by hormones and were victim to perverted thoughts like many others were. Not like him, who exhibited far more self-control.

By now, Byakuya’s brow had furrowed and any remnants of shock had since fallen from his face. Byakuya dragged his back foot forward so his feet were together.

“You should be asking your partner that,” said Byakuya because while he refused to reveal the existence of and the details of his experience in this, he also refused to appear clueless on a topic unless he absolutely needed to. “A person’s sensitive spots differ between individuals, and it’s something that must be explored by the involved parties. Anyone who isn’t a dolt would know this.”

He finally stepped forward, out of the spot that he had been standing in for far too long.

Yasuhiro rubbed the back of his neck. “You somehow answered the question without giving an actual answer...”

Byakuya froze.

“... It’s common decency to ensure that your partner is tended to as much as you are. Apart from the obvious places, the inner thighs and the neck can be erogenous areas,” said Byakuya, and to his relief, they left him to tend to his laundry in peace.

“So anyway,” said Yasuhiro. He cupped his chin, talking even though no one seemed to be paying him much attention. “I went to the garden earlier and Richard Chixon - you know, the one that shakes its head a lot - gave me this cold look... I think it’s getting ready for the next stage of the nefarious plan that it’s hatching...”

* * *

 

The metal plates on every window in the building refused to budge no matter what day of the month it was that Sakura and Mondo attempted to haul them off and not a single door led outside either, so the closest that one could get to being outside was going to the school garden on the top floor. Though this place was no more outside than any other room in the school, the walls had been painted blue, giving the illusion of a clear, sunny day. It failed to deceive Byakuya, but he decided to walk alongside the cobbled edge that bordered the patio flooring. Various plants grew in the soil around the patio such as large red flowers, speckled with pale yellow, called rafflesia arnoldii. Their distinctive odour of decaying flesh was appropriate in a school of mutual killings.

“I don’t think they have names,” said Sayaka, by the chicken coop, fingers hooked through the gaps in the wire netting.

“Maybe we could give them names,” suggested Chihiro. The third member of their party, Kyouko, said nothing, studying the chickens as they pottered about.

“That’s a great idea, Fujisaki-san,” said Sayaka and though only the chickens would be able to see her smile, the brightness could be heard in her voice. She pulled her face away from the wire netting. “What shall we call them?”

One of the chickens leaped forward, wings flapping noisily.

Chihiro pointed at it. “We could call that one ‘Blaziken’.”

“Blaziken?” repeated Sayaka, confused.

“Ah, it’s a Pokémon that can jump over buildings,” explained Chihiro, shoulders hunched. “It’s a silly name. S-Sorry...”

Byakuya couldn’t help but think if it was a silly name then Chihiro shouldn’t have said it in the first place. He rolled his eyes behind their backs.

“No, no! It’s a great name. That one is Blaziken,” said Sayaka. She pressed the ends of her index fingers together, as if about to count along the digits on one hand. Despite the fact that they only named one chicken so far. Her head turned toward Kyouko. “Um... what do you think, Kirigiri-san?”

Kyouko pointed out another chicken and said, “That one brooding in the corner is Kenzo Kokekokko.”

Sayaka let out a surprised, “Oh!”

Then she happened to catch sight of Byakuya, who had drawn nearer to them during his walk, and without asking how the other two would feel, Sayaka waved her arm in big, sweeping movements.

“Togami-kun, do you want to join us?” asked Sayaka.

Chihiro stared at her.

Byakuya huffed and turned his back to them.

Sayaka was not particularly put off. “It’s okay, Togami-kun. We’re all friends here, so you don’t have to be shy.”

He glowered at her from over his shoulder, and she seemed to deflate slightly.

“I have no desire to join you in your ridiculous game,” he said, in regards to both naming the chickens and pretending to be their friend. “I came here to have peace and quiet, not to hear you drivelling on about naming school chickens... That’s something Hagakure would do, and has done.”

“He did?” asked Sayaka, and she correctly interpreted his silence as confirmation. “Oh...!”

“If Hagakure-kun already named the chickens, then it wouldn’t be right to give them new names,” said Chihiro, who began chewing on a thumbnail in what Byakuya considered to be a vile habit. Whenever Touko did it, Byakuya shuddered, and even now, as he thought back to her wet, writhing, warm lips, he had to straighten up and try to ignore the surge of activity in his chest produced by his heart.

“We had fun, right?” said Sayaka with a light shrug, oblivious to Byakuya’s bodily functions. “Why don’t we go find Hagakure-kun and ask what he called them?”

Byakuya elevated his chin and eyed the three of them with revulsion. “Do you seriously have nothing better to do?”

“Why are you here, anyway?” Kyouko shot back, not cringing like her two companions. “The library is the sort of place that you gravitate toward, not the garden...”

“I thought I would stretch my legs before sitting down and reading for a few hours,” explained Byakuya. “Is it a crime?”

None of them issued a retort, so he strode toward the door that would lead him back into the rest of the school.

Then, when he reached the door, Sayaka’s voice wafted after him. “Don’t you ever get lonely, Togami-kun?”

Byakuya didn’t mean to, but he hesitated.

“Hm?” he went, facing forward, facing away from them.

“Being by yourself so much... It must get lonely,” said Sayaka, like she understood.

He pushed his glasses up his nose by their bridge, using two fingers. His eyes closed briefly.

“If you’re suggesting that I want friends, then you are mistaken,” he said, and he opened his eyes again. “I have a friend with benefits and for the time being, I am content with that for human interaction.”

Without looking back, he exited the garden, only hearing the clucks of the chickens and Blaziken’s rustling, restless wings.

* * *

 

Byakuya flipped to the next page of his book. The poor lighting in the library, which forced him to rely on a desk lamp from the backroom in order to read anything for long periods lest he strain his eyes, did provide at least one benefit. If he used the lamp, no one else could, so no one else but Touko ever stayed in the library for very long.

He heard the door open but didn’t so much as glance up. Not even as footsteps streamed into the room, progressively increasing in volume until they stopped somewhere near him.

“Hey... Togami,” said Aoi with a notable lack of her standard bubbliness seen when talking to most other people. This was just one example of something where he was an exception to the rule.

“Hm?” he went, still not looking up from his book.

“I was wondering if you could do me a favour.”

“A favour?” He swapped which leg he had crossed over the other. “That’s quite bold, you know.”

“Bold?”

Byakuya prodded up his glasses and finally met her eyes.

“Asking like there is a chance that I’ll go along with what you have planned,” he explained. He smirked. “Go on then, seeing as you’ve got this far. What is your request?”

“Well...” Aoi pushed her shoulders back and stuck out her chest in a show of confidence. “Fukawa-chan told me that she can’t swim and I want to teach her how because swimming is like, super important for lots and lots of different reasons, but she won’t come out of her room.”

She tapped her finger against her chin.

“I thought that maybe you could persuade her to give it a shot,” she said. “What with you and her being... well...”

Aoi averted her eyes.

“Being what?” he asked, eyes narrowed.

“You being... friends,” said Aoi.

He tucked his thumb into his book and closed it on his digit. Meanwhile, Aoi focused on a nearby bookshelf, looking like she would rather be almost anywhere else and like she wanted to get this interaction over and done with.

Likewise, Byakuya thought.

“For future reference,” he said, “we’re actually friends with benefits.”

She swung her head around and gawked at him. “H-Huh?”

Byakuya stood up and folded his arms over his chest. “I informed you of this so you wouldn’t continue to think that about us, that’s all. Fukawa and I are friends with benefits. Now, normally, I would send you on your way, but swimming is indeed a life skill...”

Aoi began edging toward the door, but he thought little of it and carried on with his speech.

“All Togamis are trained to swim at a young age, in case our plane crashes or we wash ashore on an uncharted island with no signal,” he explained. “When I was young, I was ejected out of a plane and forced to swim to a nearby island. This is common practice in my family. Fukawa most certainly needs to know how to swim. In the future, she will appreciate my role in her learning how to swim, and she is sure to want to pay me back when that time comes.”

Perhaps by brewing an extra cup of luwak coffee everyday. Byakuya lifted his hand, the one not holding the book, in front of him and clenched it into a fist.

“All right,” he said, “I’ll come along, Asahina.”

“Um... that’s okay,” said Aoi. He noticed now that she had travelled most of the way over to the door. “I... uh, just remembered I have something else to do.”

Byakuya glared at her until she had shuffled all the way over to the door. After she shut the door behind her, he glared at the door instead.

Still, whatever had come over her didn’t matter to him, nor did he care to understand her sudden mood shift to flippancy, so he shrugged to himself, sat back down and opened his book again.

After some time had passed, he whipped out his pocket watch and checked its face. Everyone else would have assembled in the cafeteria for dinner by now, but he wouldn’t technically be late because he never arranged with anyone to be there at a certain time. He placed his book onto the desk, where Monobear could choose to either put it back onto a shelf or leave it for Byakuya to pick up again later, and then headed to the cafeteria.

The rest of Byakuya’s class, except from Touko who was absent, were in the cafeteria as he had anticipated, all around one table and eating the dinner that Monobear prepared for them. On his way to the kitchen, he glimpsed Chihiro’s tray. Salmon, soft noodles, a bowl of miso soup and dried tofu. Byakuya disappeared into the kitchen. When he emerged, gripping his tray in his hands, everyone seemed to quickly turn their heads away from him.

He seated himself at a different table but he had not eaten much of his meal when Leon, carrying his own tray of half-eaten dinner, flopped onto the chair across the table from Byakuya.

“Yo, Togami,” said Leon, watching Byakuya dip some of his noodles into his soup. Not receiving a reply, he asked, “So what have you been up to lately?”

“What have I been doing?” said Byakuya, and when Leon nodded, he went onto say, “I was reading in the library, which is when you look at written symbols and characters and using your knowledge of language, interpret them into words that create concepts.”

“Huh?”

“That is what reading is,” Byakuya informed him. “I defined it for you.”

“You trying to be a comedian now or something?” asked Leon. He plopped his elbow onto the table and cupped his chin in his palm, not really invested in an answer because he grabbed hold of the conversation’s reins and steered it elsewhere before Byakuya could reply. “I’m not talking about that. I mean, what’s up with you and that other chick?”

“Chick? Are you referring to one of the girls or the chickens in the garden?”

“I’m talking about that Fukawa girl,” said Leon. “Enoshima said that you told her that you and Fukawa are friends with benefits.”

Byakuya finished the last of his noodles.

“Yes, that is correct,” said Byakuya.

Leon’s body jerked back. He blinked rapidly. “Seriously?”

Nothing in Byakuya’s countenance changed.

“No way.” Leon gripped the edge of the table and pushed himself back. His chair screeched against the red tiled floor. “This is surreal. And you’re actually serious, yeah?”

Byakuya fixed a glare onto him.

“Do you want to record me saying it?” asked Byakuya, and he raised his voice for all in the cafeteria to hear. “Fukawa and I are friends with benefits, and have been for some time. Now do you understand?”

An immediate hush fell over the cafeteria.

Leon, who had tipped back on his chair at Byakuya’s outburst as if Byakuya’s volume had almost blown him away, touched his index finger against his thumb to form the perimeter of a circle.

“Gotcha,” said Leon with an unabashed grin. He snatched up his tray and returned to the other table where the majority of the class was, like he only meant to complete some kind of mission with Byakuya rather than eat his meal with him.

Conversation at the other table didn’t resume for a few minutes, during which time Byakuya finished off the remainder of his food. His skin prickled the whole time, like their gazes were needles digging into him. Then someone murmured and another person responded, which signalled for everyone else to chip in. With the others all seemingly preoccupied, Byakuya power walked over to the kitchen, dumped his tray in there and stalked out, heading to his room where he would take a short nap before spending several hours in the library again.

Byakuya arrived outside of his door but just as fingers wrapped around the handle, someone behind him boomed, “Halt, Togami-kun!”

Kiyotaka stood behind Byakuya.

When Byakuya turned his head and stared at Kiyotaka from over his shoulder, bored, he saw that Kiyotaka had one hand on his hip. His other hand aimed a finger at Byakuya’s face.

“I don’t have any time allotted for the likes of you,” drawled Byakuya.

“Togami-kun!” Kiyotaka shouted, voice reverberating through the corridor. He crooked his finger into his palm and locked it away in a fist. “I wanted to believe otherwise, because... because...”

Byakuya twisted around. Kiyotaka’s fist trembled.

“... because this is a school, Togami-kun!” said Kiyotaka.

“Do you all have nothing better to do than annoy me?” asked Byakuya coldly. “Be gone. Find another way to entertain yourself. I don’t wish to be subjected to your emotional fits for any longer.”

Kiyotaka drew in several deep breaths. For a moment, Byakuya thought Kiyotaka was going to burst into tears.

“Just... answer me one thing,” said Kiyotaka in a carefully controlled tone, contrary to his face that looked ready to collapse in on itself.

Byakuya emitted a short hum.

“Are you...” Kiyotaka swallowed hard. “... using protection?”

“Protection?” repeated Byakuya, caught slightly off guard.

“Are you?” barked Kiyotaka, eyes gleaming. “Are you using a condom each time, Togami-kun? Answer the question! Do you use a condom every time you have intercourse with Fukawa-kun?”

“C-Condom?” Byakuya choked on the word on its way out. He shunted his foot back but didn’t step away. That required more thought than he had to spare, that went into whirling around what Kiyotaka implicated with his question.

“Well, Togami-kun?” said Kiyotaka.

Byakuya’s lips quivered. Only two other people could have known about this. Monobear, who would have blackmailed Byakuya first before telling anyone, and...

Kiyotaka lost some of his fervour in his newfound confusion and said, “Togam-?”

Everything after that was drowned out by Byakuya roaring, “FUKAWA!” at the ceiling.

* * *

 

“So ‘friends with benefits’ are people who are friends that have casual sex?” asked Byakuya, sat on the edge of his bed.

“Hm, hm,” agreed Touko.

He held his chin in one hand and looked off to the side. In his head, he went over every instance where he mentioned their ‘friends with benefits’ status to another person and the more he thought about it, the more his lips pinched together.

“I didn’t know that was what it meant,” he said.

“Hm,” she responded.

Byakuya leaned back and moved his arms behind him to support his position, hands gripping the bedsheet. He stooped his head down and concentrated on Touko, who looked up at him, situated between his legs. Touko was right up against him, in fact, one hand on his thigh and the other by her lips, and he could feel both of her hands. She withdrew her head from his crotch, disconnecting her mouth from his body in the process, and with her mouth markedly emptier, she smacked her lips together, free to do so now that there was nothing between her lips and nothing to stop her from talking coherently.

Whether she intended to say anything or not was irrelevant because Byakuya brought a hand forward and nudged her head back toward him, and she moved readily. On her way forward, she gulped down the pool of saliva in her mouth, and then she licked him before she, once again, took him inside of her. A smile tried to creep onto her face that he felt more than he saw because of how her lips had stretched out around him, meaning she achieved the smile with only limited success.

Still, she elicited from him a groan that rumbled in his throat. He drove his fingers into her hair, disheveling it even more, and guided her head until she sped up into back and forth lurches by her own accord, slightly out of sync with her hand’s pumping.

“Hm....” Byakuya went, with nothing in his mouth to excuse his intelligible noises, and his room almost seemed to fade into a monotonous desert that surrounded the pressure that welled up inside him, bright as an oasis, that teased him with ripples of relief which hinted at what was to come.

His eyelashes fluttered. The hand in Touko’s hair clenched temporarily, soon slackening. He stroked his fingers across the top of her head. She purred, creating vibrations that yielded the loudest moan yet from him.

“I think,” he managed to say, “friends with benefits suits us just fine.”

**Author's Note:**

> happy birthday, togami-kun


End file.
